![\"Sandhill](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg\" "\\"Sandhill")
Sandhill Cranes dancing in a farmer’s field\u00a0 \u2013 Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1000, ISO 800, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\nEarly in the morning Sandhill Cranes would fly into the farmer’s fields to eat, preen, and dance. I love seeing cranes dance so I felt like I was in paradise. Quite often a group of cranes would fly in and land near other cranes then they would start fighting and dancing.<\/p>\n
The light was kind of low that morning but my trusty Nikon D300 tried to keep up with the kicking feet and the flailing wings of the dancing cranes.<\/p>\n
Some of the Sandhill Crane<\/span><\/a> pairs simply watched all the commotion. I am sure they were already paired up and migrating north together.<\/p>\n I wasn’t always sure which cranes to focus on. But I loved connecting and communing with these tall, charismatic birds. Hearing them call<\/span><\/a>, watching them fly in, plus observing them dancing was a joy.<\/p>\n Besides, when you start off the morning with a stunning view like the one above when you are heading to the cranes, how bad could your day really be? Just that view alone is enough for my heart to skip a beat. Or two.<\/p>\n Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n Mia<\/p>\n Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Sandhill Crane photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Utah landscape photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been thinking a lot about Sandhill Cranes recently so I am going back in time to nine years ago today when I photographed them in Wayne County, Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5270,27,450,26,2486],"tags":[4004,4259,196,4101,3823,3132,4187,1030,11563,13738,530,4378,2139,12762,2356,2326,4470,4518,6607,4018,6397,4190,373],"class_list":["post-111112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bicknell-bottoms-wildlife-management-area","category-avian","category-sandhill-cranes","category-utah","category-wayne-county","tag-adult","tag-antigone-canadensis","tag-buttes","tag-clouds","tag-crane","tag-cranes","tag-dancing-2","tag-dawn","tag-farmlands","tag-fields","tag-migration","tag-morning","tag-pair","tag-pastel","tag-red-rocks","tag-road","tag-rocks","tag-sandhill-crane","tag-shrubs","tag-sky","tag-spring-migration","tag-sunrise","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5057.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-sU8","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45474,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/11\/i-adore-sandhill-cranes\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":0},"title":"I Adore Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I can't see them with my eyes as I write this I can imagine Sandhill Cranes waiting for the first rays of the sun to reach the marshes where they spent the night.","rel":"","context":"In "Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area"","block_context":{"text":"Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bicknell-bottoms-wildlife-management-area\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Crane braking for landing, Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-landing-mia-mcpherson-6286.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-landing-mia-mcpherson-6286.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-landing-mia-mcpherson-6286.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-landing-mia-mcpherson-6286.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51228,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/03\/12\/sandhill-cranes-in-flight-during-spring-migration\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":1},"title":"Sandhill Cranes In Flight During Spring Migration","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The last couple of times I have gone to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and further north of there I have been so happy to hear and see, even if from a long distance, the return of our Sandhill Cranes.","rel":"","context":"In "Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area"","block_context":{"text":"Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bicknell-bottoms-wildlife-management-area\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pair of Sandhill Cranes in flight during spring migration, Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sandhill-cranes-pair-flight-mia-mcpherson-6276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sandhill-cranes-pair-flight-mia-mcpherson-6276.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sandhill-cranes-pair-flight-mia-mcpherson-6276.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sandhill-cranes-pair-flight-mia-mcpherson-6276.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/03\/17\/sandhill-crane-delight\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":2},"title":"Sandhill Crane Delight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I am back from wandering, camping and photographing in several counties in southern Utah where I was delighted to find some Sandhill Cranes to photograph in Wayne County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sandhill Crane in flight with Thousand Lake Mountain in the background, Bicknell Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, Wayne County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-flying-mia-mcpherson-6305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-flying-mia-mcpherson-6305.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-flying-mia-mcpherson-6305.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-flying-mia-mcpherson-6305.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115246,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/08\/18\/kamas-valley-sandhill-crane-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":3},"title":"Kamas Valley Sandhill Crane Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday, on the way to the Uinta Mountains, April Olson and I looked for birds in the Kamas Valley. That's where I took these Sandhill Crane photos.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Sandhill Crane in grassy field in Kamas Valley, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/sandhill-crane-kamas-mia-mcpherson-8104.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":80115,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/02\/ten-sandhill-cranes-at-bear-river-mbr\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":4},"title":"Ten Sandhill Cranes At Bear River MBR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"It was the highlight of my morning to find, observe, listen to, and photograph ten Sandhill Cranes at Bear River MBR yesterday.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Sandhill Cranes displaying in the marsh at Bear River MBR, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sandhill-cranes-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sandhill-cranes-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5282.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sandhill-cranes-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5282.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/sandhill-cranes-dancing-mia-mcpherson-5282.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9591,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/26\/stained-and-unstained-sandhill-cranes\/","url_meta":{"origin":111112,"position":5},"title":"Stained and Unstained Sandhill Cranes","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago I saw quite a few Sandhill Cranes starting at just past the Visitors Center for Bear River National Wildlife Refuge, in one of the farmer's fields I saw 11 of them feeding in the freshly tilled soil.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unstained adult Sandhill Crane at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge in Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sandhill-crane-adult-autumn-mia-mcpherson-7656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Pair](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5154.jpg\" "\\"Pair")
Pair of Sandhill Cranes in Wayne County, Utah\u00a0 \u2013 Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Morning](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/sandhill-cranes-spring-wayne-county-mia-mcpherson-5157.jpg\" "\\"Morning")
Morning Sandhill Cranes in a farmer’s field\u00a0 \u2013 Nikon D300, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Wayne](\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/wayne-county-sunrise-mia-mcpherson-8472.jpg\" "\\"Wayne")
Wayne County, Utah pastel sunrise – Nikon D200, handheld, f10, 1\/20, ISO 400, Nikkor 18-200mm\u00a0 at 18mm, natural light
\n<\/span><\/p>\n